Not sure why everybody us so afraid of manual steering on these cars. They're so easy to steer with manual and after all they CAME THAT WAY from the factory, power was an option!
The reason I keep power steering is pretty simple. Doesn't make sense for a lot people but it does for me. Most of you are running lighter engines with fewer accessories, a relatively stripped down engine bay relative to mine, which is crammed with AC and everything else. Most of you run narrower tires up front than my 235's, and most of you don't drive your cars nearly as much as I do. I have to navigate parking lots, parking garages, parallel park, etc. I like my power steering.
Funny post ... thanks for the laugh. While my car still had power steering, I got to the point where I started marking my calendar 6 months in advance ... "fix the @#$% power steering"... after the most recent repair. That maintenance interval proved to be pretty accurate. Eventually ... as the original 302 was doing a slow fade but still being grudgingly driven daily, and the 351 was being built, the power steering pump started getting very noisy. Poured 90 weight in it and let it eat itself up, and kept driving it. I knew it wasn't going on the 351.
Yeah it wasnt cheap, and if I did it again I would just buy the box and the coupler and saved myself a couple hundred bucks and gotten the manual linkage setup. But after getting hoses made and buying fittings I didnt need I still think I was into that setup just a little under $1000. If I wouldnt have bought the kit I did and just would have bought the box, I had found the parts I could have done the conversion for about $700-$800 total. It is definitely the perfect setup when you are racing and have to keep the stock suspension on the front of the car. And although it is not as flexible as a Rod and Custom front end it is a heck of allot cheaper.